Jon Wright
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Gravity Power, LLC
Jon Wright is the Senior Mechanical Engineer for Gravity Power, LLC, formerly known as LaunchPoint Innovations, LLC (LPI), a bulk energy storage spin-off of LaunchPoint Technologies, Inc. (LPT). He will lead the Mechanical Engineering design and analysis of the prototype plant, the Demonstration Storage System, and the commercial Gravity Power Module (GPM); including structure and functional components. In addition, he will provide mechanical engineering for the GPM Shaft Seal design and evaluation. Jon joined LPT in October 2008 as Senior Mechanical Engineer and contributed to the energy-storage flywheel design for the Power Ring project.
Jon received his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1996 from Ohio State University where he studied automotive transmission gear noise. Jon is a member of the Society for Experimental Mechanics, Pi Tau Sigma, the National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, and the Pi Alpha Chapter of North Carolina State University where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1994.
Jon’s research included the correlation of torsion vibration, housing vibration, and sound pressure levels to gear set transmission error. He captured the driving dynamics, gear and pinion accelerations, in measurements made from equipment that he designed. Jon subsequently worked as a consultant to the composites, automotive, and railroad industries where he performed ANSYS finite element analysis for a variety of applications including nonlinear structural, transient thermal, computational fluid dynamics, and electro-thermal. He also worked on light armored communications systems for Motorola, performing the mechanical engineering and environmental evaluations for ruggedized designs.
Prior to joining LPT, Jon worked as a Senior Mechanical Engineer for Electro Scientific Industries (ESI). During his tenure at ESI, he was responsible for the mechanical design and analysis of systems for handling microscopic passive components and sub-micron laser-based wafer-processing tools, including the high-precision air-bearing stages for wafer positioning. Jon holds one patent entitled “Asphalt Packages with Consumable Containers,” and has another patent pending entitled “Shadow Creating Depression.” He also received recognition from the Library of Congress for his invention of the TruMelt® Asphalt Container.